ETERNAL REST GIVE UNTO THEM, O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM. AMEN.
Temperance, considered as a Cardinal Virtue, is a general habit of self-restraint, the moderation of all the faculties, and the avoidance of extremes even in the practice of virtue. In every matter true virtue is the golden mean between too much and too little. Our inherited tendency to disorder makes us always liable to go too far in one direction or the other; and we are so blind that we easily mistake the excess for the virtue. A sense of moderation is involved in the practice of every virtue. If there be any deficiency in it, our actual good qualities take irregular forms and become tainted with imperfection, we give scandal and think it to be good example, and our most cherished virtues are recognized by observers to be no more than disguised vices. Even in regard to the great virtue of wisdom, the Apostle thinks it necessary to caution us "not to be more wise than it behoveth to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety" (Rom. xii. 3). It is peculiarly sad to see great gifts rendered useless by a want of moderation, and to see good intentions producing a crop of evils. Is this the case with you? Do you mistake temper for zeal, tyranny for authority, weakness for meekness, insolence for self-respect, buffoonery for geniality, timidity for prudence? Ask God to infuse into you the habit of moderation so that in all things you may know how far to go and when to stop, how much God expects of you, and how much you are to expect from others.
